From the internationally bestselling authors of THE ILLUMINAE FILES comes an epic new science fiction adventure.The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasmA sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmatesA smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulderAn alien warrior with anger management issuesA tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wonderingAnd Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.They're not the heroes we deserve. They're just the ones we could find. Nobody panic.

Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle, #1) Reviews

Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ - Salt Lake City, UT

4

Fri, 05 Apr 2019

A new YA space adventure from the authors Of Illuminae! It's a fun, quick read with a diverse cast of older teens. Their crew of six (or seven) is on the run from deadly enemies while trying to solve a mystery that may have galactic consequences. The plot isn't as unique as Illuminae (the basic plot will be familiar to anyone who reads a lot of SF), but it did suck me right in. The constant shift in POVs can get a little dizzying, and some of the characters are much more memorable than others.Fun read if you like YA SF, with lots of snark and banter. It's first in a series but the ending doesn't leave you with TOO much of a cliffhanger.Full review to come! I received a free review copy from the publisher and NetGalley. Thanks!

enqi ☁️✨ [joon's] - Singapore

0

Fri, 27 Jul 2018

THIS IS BASICALLY SIX OF CROWS BUT IN SPACE ???? OMFG NOBODY TOUCH ME.

Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥

0

Sun, 30 Dec 2018

I missed getting the special purple edge copy from Goldsboro because their freaking website went down after they announced it and they sold out. BUT! I know how to make my own stained edges so I’m good!! 😉 Plus, me and mom are just leavin Captain Marvel!! My celebration of being another month cancer free!! Woot! Freaking movie ROCKS!! Omg! Look at that cover!!

Nilufer - West Hollywood, CA

5

Fri, 03 May 2019

Five gazillion misfit, outsider but truly entertaining stars! For so long I didn’t have so much fun when I was reading a page turner, captivating science fiction/ action book with witty, sarcastic characters! This was like reading a great combination of Guardians of Galaxy, Firefly( without space cowboys and hottie Captain Mal, don’t worry we have Tyler reminds of us new Star Trek’s Chris Pine)and80’s Brat Pack movies! Let me introduce you the misfit and magnificent seven!Tyler: Hottie Golden boy, young Chris Pine, but not arrogant and womanizer, he just knows how to use his dimples to attract opposite sex’s attention. Quiet work oriented, disciplined leader with his own principles.🤗Auri a.k.a Aura or a.k.a Sleeping Beauty: As soon as she wakes up after 200 years long sleep, she starts to discover her new powers. She’s strong, kind, smart and amazing hair with white highlights 😀Scarlett: Tyler’s twin, great negotiator, sweet talker, inventor of new term man-izer because she’s serious dater and score her dates with their pros and cons! Cat: Badass pilot who has deep feelings for our captain. With her tattoos and tomboy style, she would be a great MC member if they were not stuck in space😊Fin: Most entertaining character of the gang with his fast paced , quirky but funny answers to every problem. He may be disabled and he admits that he is not a warrior but please don’t believe him!Kal: He seems like callous, tough, strong alien/ elf with purple eyes and silver hair! But he’s loyal, trustworthy, devoted fighter and when he doesn’t act like a douchebag around Auri not to show his feelings for her, he is absolutely sweetest guy of the gang! ( sorry Captain but he is brave enough to talk about his feelings)And Zila: Smartest person , the brain of the gang. She keeps her silence, observer, analyzer but as soon as she opens her mouth you feel like hit by truck because of her statistical informations. I loved this gang! I loved the twists on this book. Can’t wait to read the upcoming books of the series. And now I’m slapping my head why Illuminae Files are in my sooo long tbr list! I should have read them !!! Shame on me!

C.G. - Australia

4

Tue, 03 May 2016

So this has a heap of hype and I was so ready to see what I'd think! 🙌🏻 I confess to not being the world's most avid sci-fi fan, but I mean, hi Illuminae, which is a masterpiece. I also am just here for Aussie authors who are globally recognised?! Bc half the time Aussie lit doesn't get off our shores. I assume this is bc we strap it to the backs of wallabies to make the swim to america and the wallabies, idk, eat the books or something. Regardless, I enjoyed this one a lot.Although, it's kinda impossible not to compare it to Illuminae? And because there are a lot of similarities and Illuminae is done in such a alternate unique style -- I did like the Illuminae Files better. This is more a straight-up sci-fi, and it hits on a lot of loveable sci-fi cliches (I don't mind! But I wasn't surprised with most of the plot?) and I could totally envision it as a movie. | heart of the book |Definitely the squad vibes! I've seen the authors talking about how they wanted the squad to be the feature of the book, that found-family for a bunch of rejects. Although tbh, only 3 of the 6 are actually the dysfunctional ones. (Minus Auri who is there bUT HAS NO TRAINING WHAT'S GOING ON. She's like the icing for your packet mix cake, just add water and Auri, and oh btw the cake is about to explode.)And I liked the crew! The only one I was really attached to was Finian though? But we have: → Tyler: basically called Goldenboy because he's the academy's best and brightest. Blonde, dimples, perfect etc etc. Ya know Jason from the Heroes of Olympus? Tyler is his long lost twin. Look I like him, but also he was all YA GOTTA HAVE FAITH and such an optimist which is...against my entire code. So anyway.→ Scarlett: She's Ty's twin and like the super tall, cold as hell, epically smooth girl who everyone is in love with including me idk what to tell you she's gorgeous. She also cares about the crew. She's simultaneously the MUM-FRIEND and the one who will flirt half the galaxy into giving her anything. The flirty-mum-friend??→ Cat: super tattooed badass, the fighter-pilot, also desperately in love with Ty but neither of them is going to acknowledge it.→ Kal: he's an alien from a race that is kind of elfin? so he has pointy ears and they call him Elrond, on occasion, which is fab. He's born to hit people and he's so standoffish and better-than-thou and his reaction to getting a crush on a human is "OH WELL PROBABLY NEED TO KILL MYSELF." So Kal? Drama queen.→ Aurora: She does rise, believe me, like a packet of hella scary bread. She's biracial American/Chinese and has been in cryo-sleep for 200 years. So also she's a 200-year-old teenager who spends the whole time freaking tf out AND then she realises she has creepy powers. She's not !!! suppposed !!! to be here !!!→ Finian: Aka my LOVE. Honestly 10/10 would die for Finian, dunno about the rest of them. He is disabled and wears a special suit to help him walk, but the book also acknowledged his disability a lot -- like how the suit was his sci-fi version of, say, walking with a cane. But he can't do it forever and he really was overtaxing himself by the end. He's also hella gay and basically did an "eenie meenie miney mo" between Tyler and Scarlett to see who he wanted to hit on. Also he's a sassy little asshole and honestly? Love it. Here for him.→ Zila: Zila said about 30 collective words through the whole book, did about nothing useful to the plot or the crew and why is she there. Also, not to be a super sensitive picky person, but she seemed thoroughly coded as autistic BUT!! they chose!! To call her a sociopath!!! Nice. Thx. Love that kind of rep. Could you also not. Anyway, hopefully she isn't autistic or else everyone starts frikkin apologising. But she literally does nothing for the book. Anyway.tl;dr -- I love Finian. | the plot |Like I said, it hits a lot of cliches BUT we're here for a sci-fi romp!? So I didn't mind! My only problem was how many were also in Illuminae lol. Like the "omg we're gonna get caught quick kiss!" and "oh the government is hiding a planet and killing the survivors to cover up!!" Amongst others. Lol. But we also have like telekinesis stuff going down, we have teens throwing themselves into the accidental criminal life, and it had the whole space-opera vibes of The Good Kids™ strolling into the criminal space underworld and being adorable and bad at being bad and I LOVE THAT TROPE.Also they sassed each other to hell and back and I busted laughing out loud a few times. A family member also came into my room and asked if I was crying so...?? Thx. That was a laugh. How dare you.I appreciated the lack of toxic masculinity in here too!! Tyler deferred to Scarlett's advice, Kal and Tyler end up [spoilers removed] it was just chill. And I thought, overall, the diversity was done well. Lots of races and abilities and some bi rep and girls being badass and very feminine. 🎉(Just putting a big red X over the *possible* autistic rep and just hoping IT WASN'T.)They steal things! they blow things up! They run screaming from very big bad enemies! The tag line is basically: they're not the heroes the world deserves...or asks for...or even wants, lol, send them back pls what the hell. | overall | solidly good story! I enjoyed myself, it was fun if predictable. (My only real concern is that I had no feels lol and the ending didn't hit me emotionally at all.) But the cast was fab and the dialogue meshed together so well and was so sparky! I'm concerned that these kids seemed to eat ONCE and that was like, a reheated synthesised pork dish. So they need to work on nutrition. But they were also nearly dying and uncovered something super bad and everyone's gonna die if they don't fix it. SO. 🎉 Good luck, Squad 312!!!